What Do Politics and Religion Sound Like at Their Best? JAZZ!

On a recent trip to New Orleans, I happened upon musicians playing on Royal Street in the Quarter. To say it's worth sharing is an understatement. The experience reminded me of some of the profound thoughts I've heard from the great jazz virtuoso and ambassador Wynton Marsalis and the renowned theologian J. Kameron Carter. Jazz is what democracy and religion sound like when at their best: Faithfulness to the composition, brilliance of the individual players, within the context of playing amongst each other, negotiating with each other, lifting each other up, picking up where their partners left off, sometimes keeping rhythm, sometimes taking the lead, sometimes just listening - all for the music, all for each other.